I just watched the fight again and scored it the same. One of the more debated items has been whether or not the second round was a 10-9 or a 10-8 for Griffin. I’ve seen a lot of people giving it a 10-8, but I have to disagree and I feel even stronger about that after watching it the second time around. It started off with Jackson taking those devastating leg kicks, but what else did Griffin do to justify a 10-8? Once Griffin got it to the ground, he tried a couple submission attempts from side control, but never really got close to finishing. He did get full mount and stayed there for the rest of the round but wasn’t able to inflict any significant damage. I think Joe Rogan repeatedly saying “complete domination” and Goldberg suggesting it was a 10-8 round likely led most to believe it was a 10-8 round.

I have no idea how Adalaide Byrd came up with her scorecard. Round one clearly went to Jackson with two shots that clearly rocked Griffin. Round three was closer than I thought when I watched it the second time, but I still think Jackson did enough to win it. Byrd gave Jackson the fifth, but Griffin was more active in the final round and deserved to take it. Roy Silbert’s scoring wasn’t much better.

I’m not going to make a big deal about it because it was close, but I definitely believe Jackson won the fight.

[UPDATE 7/7/2008 12:58PM] – For what its worth, Fightmetric’s magical stats analysis had Jackson the winner of the fight using their own algorithms and a 47-47 Draw under the ten point must system.

Immediate Rematch?

Rampage wants a rematch. Forrest said he’d give him a rematch. A rematch would probably be good for everyone involved. But there’s a lot of different things involved.

There are a million different scenarios we can do. It also depends on his (Rampage’s) leg.

This rematch has to happen while Forrest is the champion. It was just too close to definitively say that Forrest won that fight. The reigning champ is supposed to get the edge in that type of situation and Jackson didn’t.

The UFC wants Chuck to fight for the title one more time, and they were likely looking at that for the end of the year (assuming Liddell beats Evans which he should). Like Dana said, it depends on how Rampage’s leg is, but if it’s good, how about putting Griffin/Jackson II on the October pay-per-view with the winner getting Liddell (no disrespect to Evans) in December. If that’s cutting it too close, they could move it from December to the Super Bowl weekend event.

Regardless of what they want to do after, the rematch needs to be Griffin’s first title defense.

What’s next if no rematch?

If the UFC decides not to grant Jackson an immediate rematch, then what’s next for Rampage?

With Rampage losing, now may be the time to make Wanderlei Silva/Rampage Jackson III. Why not? Rampage is coming off a loss, but this fight has to happen at some point. Sure, it may have lost a little luster, but you can’t tell me there isn’t a fan who followed PRIDE who isn’t dying to see that again. Wandy is supposedly fighting Thiago Silva next, but its not too late to change plans. If not Wandy, how about Shogun? He’s supposed to return sometime in November or December from his knee injury. It would give Quinton some time to heal up that left leg of his. They’ve both lost to Forrest now. It’s a fight Quinton wants to avenge. The fans want to see it. I want to see it. It actually makes more sense at this point than Wandy, considering neither Rampage nor Wandy have reached the level of stardom in the States that they should, and that blockbuster of a fight deserves to be just that.

If not Jackson, who gets first crack at the new champ? As mentioned above, this nod is likely going to go to Liddell if he gets past Evans at UFC 88. Chuck’s getting old and the UFC wants him to hold the gold one last time as much as Chuck does. It would be a no-brainer if there wasn’t a fighter out there lurking by the name of Lyoto Machida. Machida arguably deserves the shot more than anyone in the division, but but he lacks the star power and the exciting fighting style. If Forrest were to bring the same plan into a Machida fight as he did tonight, it would likely make for a pretty boring title fight as Machida likes to “hit and run” (Fightlinker gets the credit for that awesome description of Machida) a lot more than Forrest does. I’m not so sure the UFC wants to make that match unless they absolutely have to.